"Help! My
chickens can't figure out the Avian Aqua Miser. What should I do?"
I've
discovered that while 98% of chickens catch on right away, a few flocks
need some extra help learning to drink out of the Avian Aqua Miser
the first time. Here are some tips to hellp you out if you're in
the other 2%:
First,
make sure that
you follow the
introduction instructions to the letter. Take out the
previous
waterer the night before and leave the birds without water
overnight.
(This won't hurt your birds since they don't drink at night
anyway.) Then put in the Avian Aqua Miser when they're thirsty in
the morning. Read over our general FAQ
page for more information, or read the extensive instructions file
which comes on a CD with your order.
You
might want to hang
the Avian Aqua
Miser a little lower than I tell you to in the instructions for
the
first day. Make sure your chickens can actually see it, even if
that means they bump into it. You can always raise it up later
once they
learn.
On the
other hand, don't hang your waterer
too low. You don't want your chickens to have to crouch to
go under it.
If they
don't catch on
right away, start tapping the nipple
with your finger so that water drips out
onto the ground. Your chickens should be thirsty and looking for
water, so they'll find this drip and know water is nearby. Keep
up
your poking and they should find the nipple since they're attracted
to the color red. If one bird, especially your lead bird, catches
on, they'll all follow suit.
You can
also pour a
container of water
slowly over the top of the waterer. It'll spread out down
the
sides
and then drip from the nipple, attracting the chickens to that
point. When you stop pouring, they should keep drinking from the
nipple.
If your
chickens just
aren't getting it
and you have to leave them alone for the day, go ahead and take the
Avian Aqua Miser out and put their old waterer back in. Then try
again the next day (repeating all of the steps above), but be sure to
put fresh water in the Avian Aqua Miser! Chickens are very
good
at
telling the difference between old, stale water and fresh water.
Another
trick you can
try if you live
in a very hot location is to put ice
cubes in the water in your Avian
Aqua Miser. Chickens love cold water on a hot summer day and
catch
on pretty fast about where to get it!
Finally,
if you bought a
do it yourself
kit, make sure that you drilled a
hole in the lid of the waterer.
If
you didn't, the waterer will create a suction and your birds will be
unable to drink.
Returns:
I hope those tips work
out for you. If they don't, or if you just get impatient and
don't want to mess with it anymore, we have a no-questions-asked return
policy. Just drop me an email and
then mail your waterer
back to Anna Hess, P.O. Box 733, St. Paul, VA 24283. We
appreciate your patience!
This is certainly an interesting idea. Especially since we are replacing the floor in our coop this year because of water spilling out and rotting the floor.
I'm curious what you do in the winter time to keep things from freezing up. I'd like to use this, but definitely have to have a plan for winter freezing.
My husband brought home a 15 gallon plastic jug and I drilled 4 holes in the outer edge of the bottom and placed 4 of the watering nipples in the holes. I then turned a 5-gallon bucket upside down and placed the larger 15-gallon jug on top. As the weather got colder here in Nebraska, I bought a fish tank heater and placed it inside the waterer, which worked great to keep the water in the jug from freezing, but then I found that the nipples froze, so I aimed a couple of heat lamps toward the nipples and that solved the problem.
I am wondering if someone has some sort of thermostatically controlled heat lamp or power strip so that the heat lamps don't need to be on all of the time. I will have to check this out and get back to you. I have to say that I LOVE the watering nipples as I was really sick of the disgusting poop-filled ordinary waterers. THANK YOU!
Marilyn --- Thanks for your kind words!
You might want to check out some of our customers' other heated chicken waterer ideas.
To answer your question --- I haven't heard of a thermostatically controlled heat lamp, but there is something called a thermocube that's $12 on Amazon. You can plug anything you want into it, and the thermocube turns the item on when it gets down to 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hello
i was ust wondering if any algae will grow on the hanging waterers. I kow that my plasic white and red waterer has algae in it at the end of every week!
Also, i have a smaller A-framed run so I wanted to know where would be the best spot to hang it/ I could hang one fromthe top and then attach another one on the inside wall of the run I suppose. Anyt thoughts/suggestions?
HI ANNA, WE HAD AN EXCHANGE NOT LONG AGO, AND I TOLD YOU MY STUPID CHICKENS WOULDN'T DRINK FROM THE WATERER.... WELL...WE MADE SOME CHANGES OVER THE WEEKEND, ADDED NESTS ETC. AND MOVE THE WATERER PVC LINE FROM AGAINST THE HOUSE TO THE FENCE AND HUNG IT AT A 45 DEGREE, TOOK THEIR WATER AWAY ABOUT 4 IN THE AFTERNOON (IT WAS PRETTY WARM HER IN SOUTH TEXAS SAT.) WE STUCK A LITTLE STICK IN ONE TO MAKE IT DRIP, AND I GUESS THEY PECKED THE STICK OUT...AND BEFORE DARK THEY WERE ALL DRINKING ON IT...LOVE THAT LITTLE PECK PECK SOUND!!!�MY HUSBAND IS WORKING ON A 2ND ONE FOR THE ROOSTERS! WE HAD TO DIVIDE THE HENS FROM ROOSTERS...NOW WE HAVE THESE BEAUTIFUL ROOSTERS AND DON'T WANT TO EAT THEM! HA...THANKS FOR YOUR ADVISE, I AM VERY HAPPY AND GLAD WE STUCK WITH IT!!!
Tim --- We noticed that our waterers tend to get a bit of algae on the inside after a long summer in the sun --- it's easy to wash it out with a soft-bristled brush every few months. That said, it sounds like you might have a lot more algae in your water than we do if you get algae within a week! You might choose to use a DIY kit to make a bucket waterer out of a container with walls that aren't translucent in that case.
Alternatively, with your smaller tractor, you might choose to make a PVC pipe waterer. A waterer like this will fit into just about any space.
Penny's Eggs --- I'm sorry you had trouble. I think the most likely explanation for your muddy ground is that you didn't install the nipples quite right, so they're leaking. Well-installed nipples won't leak at all. (A few hens are messy drinkers and let a bit of water dribble down their chins --- that should amount to only a few drops on the ground, though.)
If you flip to page 36 of the instructions file that came on the CD with your order, hopefully one of those tips will fix your leaking problem. If not, drop me an email at info@avianaquamiser.com and I'll try to walk you through finding the source of the problem.